Youth mental health in the age of endless headlines

Lets all be honest - a lot has happened in the news cycle over the last couple of weeks. 

When our last blog was published, nobody was seriously talking about rejoining the EU, the phrase “Andy Burnham's shorts” had never been discussed in a public forum, we were worried of £5million of Farage’s wealth rather than £1.4million, Wes Streeting was the health secretary, Arsenal retained their title of serial bottlers, Aston Villa hadn’t won a trophy in 30 years and Gemma Collins was a reality TV “star” and meme-extraordinare.

Fast forward a handful of mostly cloudy days and Wes Streeting is no longer in the cabinet, Andy Burnham’s committed to new running attire apt for running a country, serious Labour politicians are voicing support for reversing Brexit, Arsenal are Premier League champions, Aston Villa are European champions - sort of - and Gemma Collins is working with the Department for Education to tell school kids how to be successful and ambitious. 

Now farbeit for me to tell you which of those is the worst development (it’s Arsenal), but the wider point is we are now in an age where we know almost everything and anything that happens almost instantaneously. 

So much happens so fast that other things simply get buried because ultimately we do not have the capacity to digest everything that is happening. We never have, but this has never been more prevalent than in the social media era. 

Even amongst those barbs, there are still serious developments that often get pushed aside. In the last couple of weeks, reporting has painted a stark picture of mental health in Britain. Perhaps worse, it exclusively concerns the mental health of the country's youth. 

There appears to be growing concern from policymakers, researchers and employers about the scale of poor mental health among young people and what it could mean for the country in the years ahead.

Research cited by Zurich Insurance - a multinational insurer that also publishes research and reports on wider social and economic issues - suggests that mental health conditions and behavioural disorders are becoming increasingly common among teenagers. 

According to Zurich, just over half of 15 to 19-year-olds are already estimated to experience conditions such as anxiety, depression or ADHD. If current trends continue, that figure could rise to 64 per cent by the end of the decade.

The findings reflect a shift in how mental health is discussed and understood among younger generations. Professor Will Shield of the University of Exeter noted that young people today are far more comfortable talking about mental health and wellbeing than they were two decades ago. This is obviously a good thing overall. This blog has harped on for over a year encouraging people to reach out to someone and voice their struggles. 

Increased awareness and reduced stigma have undoubtedly made conversations easier, but there is also debate about whether normal experiences of stress, uncertainty and adolescence are increasingly being interpreted through a medical lens.

Politicians across the political spectrum have acknowledged this, with the aforementioned former health secretary warning that the government cannot ignore the rise in mental health problems, while the Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has spoken about concerns surrounding “overdiagnosis”.

Alongside the discussion around diagnosis is a growing concern about the social and economic pressures facing youngsters. The Zurich report pointed to factors including academic pressure, social media exposure, economic uncertainty and housing costs as contributing to worsening mental health outcomes. Young people today are also reaching traditional milestones later than previous generations, with independent living and financial security becoming harder to achieve.

Separate research from the Resolution Foundation found that Britain compares poorly internationally when it comes to young people’s mental wellbeing. Analysts suggested that levels of anxiety and depression among UK youth appear worse than in many comparable OECD countries.

These concerns were echoed again in May, when another former health secretary, Alan Milburn, warned MPs about what he described as “a tsunami of distress and mental ill-health” among young people. Speaking as part of a government review into “youth worklessness”, he argued that the scale of need risks overwhelming the NHS if the issue continues to grow unchecked.

The figures linked to employment and economic inactivity underline the scale of the challenge. Official data now shows that nearly one million 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK are classified as not in education, employment or training (NEET). At the same time, the number of young people claiming health and disability benefits has risen sharply in recent years.

Milburn also highlighted concerns that poor mental health and unemployment can become closely connected. He argued that society sometimes underestimates the negative impact that being out of work can have on a person’s wellbeing and sense of purpose.

At the same time, the government is beginning to rethink how health-related absence is managed through various pilot schemes aimed at reducing reliance on traditional sick notes.

When all of this information is considered, amongst all of the headline stories I perhaps unsuccessfully aimed to poke fun at, these reports show how mental health has become one of the defining issues affecting people in Britain, and nowhere does this hit home more than for our younger people.

The conversation now extends beyond healthcare alone, touching education, employment, and housing. 

Admittedly there are some slippery slopes here. This charity blog writer can't help but think of the dangers associated with telling people we are “overdiagnosing” mental health issues. Even if that is true, which is extremely hard to truly prove, the wider rhetoric being presented here is quite dangerous. 

There are obvious limitations to diagnosing people of any age as the process itself is one that involves opinion. While it is easy and quite common for people to conflate facts and opinions these days, we must be wary as a society of talking along these lines. People should not be discouraged from seeking help, speaking about their feelings or trying to get a diagnosis. It feels to me as if that has been forgotten. 

While it is easy to make blanket statements like this, I can't help but think people might prefer to hear of solutions to these issues, rather than being told that they are fine and the diagnosis they received is bonkers.